Tone-Deaf Ministers To Hike Gas Bills By £159 Despite Soaring Energy Costs

Tone-deaf ministers will next week announce plans to hike gas bills by £159 [US$220], The Sun can reveal.

Despite soaring energy costs and factories preparing to shutter this winter, Boris Johnson will double down on his controversial Net Zero Strategy ahead of next month’s COP26 climate summit.

The PM will argue that electricity is kept artificially expensive, hitting efforts to get people to switch to electric cars and central heating.

And central to it will be the controversial Heating and Boiler strategy that will seek to make electricity cheaper and gas more expensive over the next 15 years.

It will:

• BAN new gas boilers being installed after 2035, with Brits handed subsidies of between £4,000 and £7,000 to install expensive electric heat pumps.

• UNVEIL how firms and households will be encouraged or forced to switch to cleaner energy supplies – with green levies currently whacked on leccy bills switched to gas.

• DELAY a decision on replacing the gas network with controversial hydrogen to heat homes has been delayed until at least 2026 amid safety concerns.

The PM will argue that electricity – which is the cleanest it has ever been – is kept artificially expensive, hitting efforts to get people to switch to electric cars and central heating.

But insiders say it will take years of listening exercises and legislation before the green levies currently slapped on electricity can be moved over to gas bills.

The average green surcharge paid on household electricity bills is £159, with the money used to invest in renewable power generation and subsidize the poorest households’ bills. …snip…

However, Mr. Johnson faces fierce opposition from backbench Tory MPs over any plan that could see prices rise.

Yet BoJo will argue switching away from gas will also see Britain suffer less from geopolitical uncertainty.

Read rest at The Sun